Brett Forte's parents grateful for region's support

Tara Miko
Reporter
Tara started with APN in 2010 after graduating with a journalism and politics degree from Griffith University in Brisbane. After two-and-a-half years working on APN papers in the Bowen Basin in Central Queensland, she joined the team at The Chronicle in February 2013. In September that year she took over the reins of the Rural Weekly.

For her husband, Stuart Forte, knowing Toowoomba has shown its genuine love for his son has been a comfort amid profound grief and sadness.

"It is overwhelming to a certain extent because in this instance my son is a genuine hero and I think that the community realises that," he said.

"So there's an even greater outpouring of grief for not only him but as police officers go out on every shift and don't know what they are going to come up against."

Snr Const Forte will be given a state funeral at the Clive Berghofer Recreation Centre next Wednesday, the only venue in the city large enough to accommodate the officer's contingent of family, friends and mourners.

Among them will be his police partner whose heroics have been revealed to Snr Const Forte's family.

Mr Forte said the chance meeting with his son's former partner at the makeshift memorial late Thursday night was raw with emotion and gratitude for his son's heroics.

The tragedy has spurred a shift in support for the police, with officers being stopped on the streets and thanked for their service.

That support has flowed across the state, Queensland Police Union president Ian Leavers said.

A tribute board by Hatton Vale school is left at the memorial for Brett Forte.Bev Lacey

"On the streets of Toowoomba, people have come up to me to tell me their story and how they support, respect, and appreciate us as police," the Queensland Police Union president said.

"The initial shock and disbelief that I think everyone across Toowoomba and the Darling Downs first felt when they heard about Brett's murder has given way to a sense of community, of rallying together to support police, and resolving to try to ensure the events of this past week do not occur again.

"Brett's murder has not just meant a grieving family, or a grieving police force; a whole city is in mourning and although we will recover we will never be the same.

"It has been truly humbling seeing first hand how the community of Toowoomba and the broader Darling Downs has come together to support police and their families."